Rough spots in economic partnership worked out

By DINAH VOYLES PULVER, Staff writer
June 2, 2010

A proposal for a new countywide economic development partnership is back on the agenda for the Volusia County Council this week with a new name and a clarified mission.

Organizers hope the new approach will help win the broad countywide support they say is needed to get an agency up and running to bring new businesses and jobs to Volusia. Launched last year, the effort floundered in the past couple of months, with several cities waiting to see what the county would do and Deltona deciding not to participate.

A new working title, Team Volusia Economic Development Corp., a more phased-in approach and a clearer delineation of duties may help address concerns that forced the issue off the county's May 6 agenda at the last minute. The item was pulled after it became clear the county's staff and council members still had too many questions and concerns.

Council members feared the new group might detract from the county's own economic development efforts and focus too heavily on the metropolitan Daytona Beach area rather than the entire county.

That triggered three weeks of intense discussions and negotiations among county officials, key business leaders and supporters of the new economic development group.

Larry McKinney, president of the Daytona Regional Chamber of Commerce, and Rick Karl, director of aviation and resources for Volusia County, spent countless hours together combing over problem areas and refining the proposal.

They said the "biggest hurdles" were misconceptions and miscommunication about what the organization would be responsible for, what the county's economic development department would do and how the efforts could work in concert.

The proposal now calls for the organization to be phased in over the next 18 months, said Karl, and establishes that the public/private board will operate as a public agency, in compliance with the state's open government laws and a public audit.

McKinney said they added a few things omitted when the original proposal was put together, such as engaging the school system, and took out a few things, such as the old name, the Metro Daytona-Volusia Economic Development Corporation.

Karl and McKinney are unveiling their reworked proposal to individual council members this week. On Tuesday, they met with Councilman Andy Kelly.

Kelly said he liked the new name. "If we're going into this, we're going to be a team so that indicates better participation and balance."

Concerns about money may remain.

The proposal calls for the county to chip in up to $500,000 a year in coming years. Private businesses are expected to contribute $1.2 million a year, with the remainder of the $2 million budget coming from the cities.

In addition to the public/private board, the new agency would include a separately functioning CEO Cabinet, comprised of individuals and executives from companies that each contribute up to $100,000 a year for three years. The cabinet would court prospects considering a move to Volusia.

McKinney said the two arms -- the public/private board and the private investor group -- would have identical missions.

The new group began as a spinoff from the Daytona Regional Chamber.

Ted Doran, past president of the Daytona chamber who helped with the recent negotiations, called the proposal "an unprecedented effort by the private sector to work with the public sector in promoting economic development."

Other communities in Florida are much more coordinated and successful at attracting new business, Doran said. "Our competition -- which is every other community in the state of Florida -- is beating the pants off us right now."